Nonpartisan Election

A NONPARTISAN ELECTION is an election where the candidates do not have a formal political party affiliation. In a nonpartisan election system, candidates do not run in party nominating elections (primaries) and the ballot does not indicate a party affiliation. Instead, all candidates' names appear on the ballot. In most instances, if no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a run-off election will be held where the top two vote-getters will appear on the ballot. Supporters of nonpartisan elections frequently seek to limit the power of political parties. By making the elections nonpartisan, they hope to reduce the influence that political party leaders have over elections. They contend that eliminating party labels will encourage qualified people from outside politics, and candidates who are not part of the party machine, to run for public office.

Nonpartisan elections were part of the package of municipal reforms, which included at-large elections, off-year elections, the secret ballot, the short ballot, council-manager, and commission forms of municipal government that were advocated by Progressive reformers during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. In 1909, Boston, Massachusetts became the first major American city to adopt nonpartisan elections. The reforms were part of a larger reform agenda, which was a reaction to the excesses of the Industrial Revolution. Political reforms were directed against the corrupt governments that were dominated by political party machines. Muckraking journalists exposed the [Page 458]abuses of the party bosses and the elected officials they placed in office. The reformers intended to reduce corruption and political patronage, create more choices for the voters, and limit the power of party leaders by stripping them of their ability to decide who ran for public office in municipal elections.

Nonpartisan elections are held in many municipalities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago (where they were introduced in 1995), Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle. Today, 41 of the 50 largest cities in the United States with an elected mayor utilize nonpartisan elections. They are also often used to elect school board members and, in some states, judges. The Nebraska State Legislature is the only state legislature that is elected on a nonpartisan basis.

In most nonpartisan elections, there is a requirement that the winner receive a majority of the vote. If no candidate secures a majority, a run-off election will be held between the top two vote-getters. Such run-offs avoid the problem of candidates being elected with a small percentage of the votes cast, and allow voters to focus on the two remaining candidates. In some nonpartisan elections, the party affiliation of the candidates is well known; in other cases, political parties are not involved in the election and voters make their selections without giving much consideration to partisan politics. There are instances where civic organizations have influence over the results of nonpartisan elections. While political parties may still have an influence over the election by endorsing candidates and working on their behalf, they no longer control access to the ballot.

Proponents of nonpartisan elections argue that they increase the number of people who participate in the election of officeholders. They also argue that removing party designations from the ballot will encourage voters to focus on campaign issues, rather than party labels. However, studies of jurisdictions that have switched from partisan to nonpartisan elections, and comparisons of paired jurisdictions with similar political characteristics other than partisan elections, generally show lower voter participation under nonpartisan elections. Research also indicates that this decrease in participation is concentrated among less educated and less affluent voters. It has also been contended that ethnicity/race and incumbency replace party affiliation as cues for voters in nonpartisan elections, and that nonpartisan elections result in the under-representation of minorities in local legislative bodies.

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